How I Know You
by Eressos
Summary: In the year 2014, the sailor senshi have fulfilled their promise of defending Earth from attack. Having settled into their lives, this story follows what happens when unusual people and very usual circumstances collide. Have they really finished fighting? What is the fate of their children? And what role does Meiou Setsuna have to play in all of this?


**How I Know You**

(formerly Sailormoon: Before the Crystal Shines)

**Disclaimer****: **I do not own nor claim any of the intellectual rights to Sailormoon or the characters within. Original characters represented may be used by other authors with my written permission only. This is a work of fiction, and likeness to persons living or dead is purely coincidence.

**Rated T **for violence, language and sexual content. **Reader discretion is advised.**

**Tokyo 2014**

It was raining outside just as on the day she had left with her only child eleven years ago. Meiou Setsuna did not care about the rain, though, as it cascaded along the sleek body of her crimson Audi. She only cared about one thing after all of her years in voluntary exile.

"We're home" she said with a smile framing her lips; Akira offered her a weak smile in return and she gently squeezed his knee.

"Don't be so nervous. Everyone will love you, I promise" she said and his caramel hued skin reddened.

"Shiori will be there?" he asked, the fourteen year old's voice husky like his mother's but firm like Chiba Mamoru's – his father's. Setsuna smiled and nodded. She had wondered over the years if she should have told him of Shiori's life but then had decided against it.

_Let them find their way together, s_he had found herself thinking but she still worried. She worried much for Akira.

I

For the first time in months, all of the senshi had gathered together. There was a veil of anticipation to be reunited with Setsuna that concealed their day-to-day lives and conflicts. The Tenou family waiting perhaps most anxiously; Michiru pulling gum out of their eight year old daughter, Hinata's, mouth and teasing her. Haruka rested his hands firmly on their oldest child's slender shoulders; Shiori tried desperately to disappear against him. The Mizuno-Kino family was as rambunctious as always, and both Ami and Makoto tried to entice their two children into sitting still. The Chiba family sat contentedly; their son, Hikaru, teasing his father about something new every few moments. The Hino family sat closest to the outer family; Rei and Minako were silent but Yuuki was inciting Takeshi and Sayuri into more cheering. They had aged. They were all fully-realized rulers of their home worlds.

II

Nearly the moment she walked through the door of the Chiba's corner penthouse, Haruka and Michiru descended upon her; Mamoru wasn't far behind and soon, all of the senshi were exchanging their hugs, kisses and tears with their long-away friend. Akira, who resembled his mother more with each passing year, slipped into the large room silently.

_Where…_ And there, standing beside Rei, one hand gripping the other arm and with deep blue eyes staring back at him, was Shiori. They had only been toddlers when he and his mother had left for Europe but he had no doubt that Shiori remembered him. Before he could move closer, he was intercepted by Haruka and Michiru embracing him.

"Aki, look how you've grown!" Michiru exclaimed, cradling his face in her hands.

"He looks like his mother, ne?" Haruka asked and Michiru nodded, hugging him again and then noticing his gazed affixed to Shiori.

"Oh, do you remember our son, Shiori? You two were the best of friends when you were little!" she said cheerfully and Akira's eyes widened while Shiori's filled with tears.

"S… son? But I thought Shiori was…" Before he could finish the sentence, he stopped. His words were hurting her… him?

"Of course. I've been wanting to see Shiori for all this time" he said solemnly, moving past the couple and going to his aqua-haired friend.

"I was very lonely without you" he said, touching his shoulder that was covered in a baggy gray sweater. Shiori's eyes searched Akira's briefly before the two embraced.

"Aki" he whispered in a voice much like Michiru's only a bit huskier.

"Welcome home" he said, clinging to him.

"I'm home" Akira confirmed, giving himself completely to their embrace. Their promise had been fulfilled. Setsuna smiled knowingly before Rei looked at her with curiosity, and she concealed her prescience.

III

"That dinner was absolutely wonderful" Setsuna and Akira said in unison, causing uproarious laughter around the table; some of the restaurant's other patrons looked at them briefly before continuing to ignore them and the rest of the world. After having tea, the Mizuno-Kino family had left as well as Yuuki and Minako who had insisted that Rei accompany them.

"Hey, Aki! Are you a boy like my dad or yours?" Hinata called across the table, immediately getting chastised by Michiru and Shiori.

"Hina, you don't just ask someone about their body! It doesn't concern you. And you should not call him 'Aki;' show some respect!" Shiori was blushing profusely.

"But you call him 'Aki…'" Hinata whined.

"That's different!"

"How?"

"Because we grew up together before you were born, that's why!"

"OK…" Hinata whined.

"Then I will call him Aniki!" Hinata proclaimed and Shiori reddened further. Akira chuckled at that and at their squabbling as he found it endearing and wondered what it was like to have a little sister to tease.

"That would be nice" he agreed with a warm smile.

"Yay!" Hinata leapt from her seat and went around the table to climb onto his lap.

"Hi… Hina!" Shiori stood up but Akira waved at him to sit, and he hugged the blonde-haired tomboy.

IV

Shiori hadn't looked at him for much of the drive to the Tenou family home along Tokyo Bay and Akira was still questioning much of what he'd thought for fourteen years. Why had his mother not told him that Shiori was a boy? Was Shiori a boy even? What did his mother know that had prevented her from sparing them their awkward silence?

"She's a bit rambunctious, huh?" Akira teased, ruffling Hinata's unruly hair as she remained sleeping on his lap. Shiori chuckled softly.

"I'm sorry that she's acting this way. I'm not very effective as a brother so, I hope she won't trouble you too much."

"I'm happy to be involved" he reassured. Setsuna watched their interaction in her rear view mirror and smiled.

V

"I've got her" Akira told Haruka when he tried to take the sleeping Hinata from him. Akira continued into the house and Shiori took him to Hinata's room where he gently laid her upon her bed. Shiori smiled and took off his sister's shoes and socks, tucking them away into the closet and Akira covered her with the thick quilt.

"Goodnight, little one" he whispered, pressing a kiss to her forehead. Shiori leaned in to kiss her cheek, pulling the covers up a bit more. Once they had closed the door, they shared a smile.

"I'll show you to your room" Shiori offered and Akira nodded. They had decided that he and his mother would live with them rather than alone. There seemed no reason for them to live apart. When they reached the door, Shiori opened it to reveal that it had been filled only with boxes and a futon as Akira had asked.

VI

"I like to decorate, that's why…" he offered, knowing that Shiori had wondered about it, and he blushed at having been seen as transparent.

"Oh! Um… If you need help… I can paint so…" he stopped speaking and Akira moved closer, taking his head in his hands.

"I've missed you, Shio…" he said quietly. They were so close now that their breath warmed each other's lips.

"I'm sorry about earlier, Aki… I know that you expected something different than this. I'm sorry." Akira shook his head.

"You're exactly what I expected. You're beautiful." Shiori looked away and tears were in his eyes again. Akira drew him into and embrace and whispered into his ear.

"Hush now…" he said and then, a quiet sob shook Shiori's body.

"Why do I have to have this stupid body? I don't want it! I just want to be normal…"

_So, this is why Mama didn't tell me anything…_

"Shio… what do you mean?" He had no desire to force it.

"Every part of me, my whole life… Then, now, always… I feel like I should be a girl but I'm not and it's killing me, Aki!" Akira was athletic but not enough so that he could keep them standing when Shiori collapsed against him, sobbing quietly. He let her sob and she showed him everything she had hidden for too long.

VII

When her cries had become silent and her tears had dried to stains upon her cream-colored cheeks, Akira gently tilted her face so that their eyes met.

"Shiori… I never needed you to be a 'normal girl;' I never needed for you to become anything but who and what you are. I only ever needed for you to be with me. Be with me" he whispered into her ear, his fingers gliding through her hair.

"But… I… No one knows, Aki. I can't even figure out how to tell my parents… Papa thinks I'm gay but that's very different from telling him that I'm a girl. What if I can't do it?" Akira smiled. The answer was 'yes.'

"You'll do it when you're ready, and when that time comes, I will be standing beside you like always. I promise, Shio." Shiori smiled and leaned contentedly against his shoulder.

VIII

Rei emerged from the bathroom in a pair of Michiru's pajamas and smiled at Setsuna who was perpetually checking her phone.

"Aren't you going to say goodnight to Akira?"

"I just did" Setsuna said, waving the phone for a moment before focusing on the woman.

"I think that he and little Shio are a bit preoccupied at the moment, though…" she said with a chuckle and Rei blushed.

"Shouldn't we stop them?" Setsuna shook her head and pat the bed beside her; Rei slid into the large bed.

"No, I don't mean preoccupied in that way, just that they have many things to talk about, as do we, no?"

"What has Michiru-chan told you?" Rei asked sadly, clutching her knees to her chest. Setsuna contemplated her for a moment before moving beside her, draping an arm around her.

"Not Michiru… Mina …"

"Mina? But why would she…" Setsuna pressed a warm kiss to her temple.

"Hush now… Just tell me what's happening." And Rei did tell her everything. The truth of her sadness and discontent flowed freely from her. Setsuna had already known that she and Minako had been fighting and that their fighting had, after some years, morphed into a quiet, pain-filled gentleness toward one another. They were the best of friends but they were not suitable wives for each other. Setsuna held Rei as the woman sobbed against her, clinging to her thin tank top and unwittingly to the skin beneath. Eventually, they laid together, Rei pressed within the curvature of Setsuna's body, and the older woman kissed her temple once again.

IX

"I'm sorry to tell you all of this when you first get home" Rei whispered, silently admonishing herself.

"Rei… This is part of why I came home. Haruka, Michi and Mamoru have been asking me for years, and I had been considering it but… It was when Mina called and asked me that I finally decided." Rei gasped a little.

"I still don't understand. Why did she call you here for my sake?"

"She loves you, Rei. She wants for you to be happy; I still don't understand what part she believes that I have to play in this. Perhaps she thinks that what it is that you're missing isn't her but simply having a friend beside you. You're close with Michi but not as close as you are to me… as close as we were back then." Rei remembered their night together before Setsuna had left, when Rei was still in college, and she shivered. She had avoided Setsuna after that and devoted herself completely to her relationship with Minako. Setsuna left and the two of them married.

"Setsuna…" she whispered, a stray tear falling heavily down her cheek.

"I will do whatever I can to help you and Mina" Setsuna vowed and Rei felt ashamed for having run away from someone as noble as her and as forgiving.

"There is nothing to forgive" Setsuna said solemnly as if reading her mind. She rested her chin on Rei's shoulder and they slept.

X

Setsuna yawned as she heard her phone buzz and reached for it. It was already early afternoon but the time senshi really had no motivation to move while Rei slept against her as if she hadn't slept in years.

[Mina] How is she? [/Mina]

[Setsu] Exhausted. I've never seen her like this before; she looks broken. [/Setsu]

[Mina] Think you can put our little egg back together again? [/Mina]

[Setsu] Egg? Humpty Dumpty? Mina, what are you expecting me to do? [/Setsu]

[Mina] Whatever it takes. [/Mina]


End file.
